Snowpoint Peak
by Matt1251
Summary: The glacial world. A frozen wasteland of ice. Yet one person decides to travel there. But after an accident on a mountain leaves him stranded and powerless, one person decides to help him out. And that action can prove to be more powerful than any other...


**So after 16 fanfics of Toad and Toadette, I decided to put something new on top of it! Don't worry, I won't stop with the former pairing (I probably never will c:) but I wanted to try something different, with a pairing of Toad and... well, you'll see!**

Snowpoint Peak

_How long have I been here? _

Minutes? Hours? Days, even? It's all a blur. All I know is that some time before now I fell into this forty-foot crevasse like an idiot. An idiot who spends so much time looking at what's ahead that he doesn't know what's at his feet. I didn't have my backpack either. I was lucky enough to be stuck on a ledge rather than at the bottom of the crevasse. Unfortunately, that was where my ice picks were, so I couldn't climb out. I'm stuck.

The snow flurried all around me, coating my face and cap in white. Ice chunks fell down the crevasse to the bottom, producing a distant _thunk_ when they landed. I was desperately hoping that someone would see or hear me, even though I was forty feet below the surface of this deadly peak. The glacial world, commonly known as World 3 in most of Mario's adventures, wasn't really a good place to travel to anyways, but I'm an explorer, so I like to travel places. I didn't know the danger of Snowpoint Peak, though. Time passed, and no one detected me. My hands were turning white from the cold. I wasn't going to last much longer.

Then finally, finally, I saw a face at the top of the icy canyon. "Hello?" it said, a bit shakily. "I-is someone down there?"

"Yes!" I called back. "I'm down about forty feet, I'd say. How many of you are there?"

"Only me." the voice replied.

"Then you'll have to get help." I said, but immediately regretted saying it. To get help and come back would take six hours at least. I'd be frozen to death!

"That'll t-take too long." the voice replied. It was thinking the same thing I was. "I'll think of something." it said reassuringly, but I didn't know if it had the desired effect, given that I've been stuck in this damned crevasse for who knows how long now. After awhile, I saw that the person was trying to reach a pole to get me out. It wasn't nearly long enough, but I could see the details on the mahogany wood to know that it was a Bo staff. _Is this person a warrior or something?_ I asked myself. The person retracted the staff and I could hear rope being tied. Then it lowered the staff again, but this time with something attached to it. As it got lowered, I could see a sweatshirt. The person was taking articles of clothing off to make a makeshift rope. I immediately felt concern, since a person without clothes in this cold couldn't last. Minutes passed, the person tying more clothing to each other to try to make a rope that was sturdy enough. Finally, I reached it with the tips of my fingers.

"Be ready." I called up. "I have to jump to get on."

"Okay. Give me a s-sec." The person called. For the first time, I noticed their voice. It was soft and timid, but also kinda cute, the kind of cuteness that made me want to listen to it more. "Ready!" it called.

"Alright! On three, okay?" I shouted back. "One... two... three!" I jumped off the precarious ledge, and gripped the rope of clothing with my hands. As I slowly climbed up, I noticed the colors of the clothing. Purple and blue. _Very interesting._ I gripped the rope with both hands as I traveled upwards. Suddenly, the rope shifted, and I let out a cry of alarm as I tried to steady myself. But the knots held, sturdy, and I continued seconds later. Every foot seemed like a mile as I climbed. I started looking to see how far I was from the top. Twenty feet. Ten. Five. My stamina was running out much faster than I thought, as I struggled to hold on. The person on top was experiencing the same signs. Finally, I couldn't take it. My knuckles were turning white. My hands were opening. It was all over.

And then it _was_ over. I lifted myself over the ledge of the icy crevasse with strength that I didn't know I had at the time. I deliberately refused to look at the person who saved my life.

"Put your clothes on. Hurry!" I said, and the person did, because I could hear fabric rustling. I said that not only out of embarrassment, but also of concern; even though it was only about two minutes, it could cost someone's life to be out exposed like that. After about two more minutes, the person tapped my shoulder, and I immediately shoved them to the snow at our feet, to get their blood circulating again. When they got up, I got my first good look at them, and I found out.

"Wha-" I stuttered. There, sitting at my feet, the person who saved my life, was a girl. She was about my height, had wisps of orange hair sticking out of her hood with a tint of white by the snow, a blue shirt, blue jacket, and purple sweatpants. She had a katana in the sheath on her back.

'Who... are you?" I managed to ask.

"Me?" the girl asked, as if she was unsure of whether I was speaking to another person or not.

"Yeah, you." I clarified. "What's your name?"

"My name?" the girl asked, still unsure, and I nodded. "I-it's Ana." she said, and I didn't think her stuttering was because of the cold.

"Thank you so much for saving me." I managed to reply.

"It's nothing." Ana assured, and rubbed the back of her head shyly.

"Come on!" I exclaimed, incredulous. "You save a well-known figure in the Mushroom Kingdom and you act like it's nothing?" I didn't think she even knew my name, but I just wanted to say that.

"It's r-really nothing though... I just w-wanted to help out." Ana looked away, evidently shy. Her shyness was what propelled me to keep going.

"Well, you did. And in the greatest possible way too. I owe you my life, Ana." Without thinking, just on instinct, I bowed in her direction. When I looked up, she was once again looking away from me. _Is she hiding something? _I asked myself. We started walking down the mountain to base camp at about 8,500 feet, and she kept looking away whenever I smiled. She was hiding something. I could tell.

"So why did you come here anyway?" I asked her, as I jumped off a slope to the snow with little effort. I tried to get my mind off her saving me for a moment, which was hard.

"Well, I just wanted to explore." she replied, the shakiness eliminated from her voice, as she jumped down too. "You see, I like nature, so I wanted to explore it. I managed to make it to the top." I was stunned.

"The top? But that's 18,500 feet! How did you ever make it up there?"

"Patience." she replied. "I started at seven in the morning and only got to the top like an hour ago." We continued to walk down and that's when I noticed her in a new light. She was adventurous and carefree, just like me. I liked that about her. Eventually, after an hour of rappelling, trudging, and avoiding crevasses, we finally got to base camp. We burst through the door, only to find fellow climber Toads, surrounding us.

"Where have you been, Toad?"

"It's been _hours_!"

"How did you get here?"

"Who's that girl beside you?" Everyone started talking at once. It was insane! I managed to silence them by putting a hand in the air.

"We need some time to ourselves." I explained, and some people wolf-whistled, but I ignored them. I walked to the fireplace in another room and closed the door, while Ana followed. We sat down by the fire and sighed in comfort. I could see Ana looking at me for a fleeting moment, out of the corner of my eye. When I turned to her, she was looking away again, the shyness coming back.

"I really can't thank you enough for saving me back there, Ana." I reiterated.

"Please, Toad." she said, looking away further, the back of her hood facing me now. "It's r-really nothing... I don't need all of this praise..." I was shocked. She had never been here before, and this was our first time meeting.

"Wha- How do you... know my name?" I asked.

"I heard about you when I came to the Mushroom Kingdom for the first time." she explained, in a quiet voice, still looking away. "You seem like a real hero, the way you were talked about."

"Thanks." Two hours after we met, and she's already calling me that?

"Toad, can you... do me a favor?" Ana asked.

"Sure." I answered. "What is it?"

"Can you not tell anyone about this?" she explained, and I stood up, flabbergasted.

"Really? You save a hero from a mountain, save his _life_, and you want to keep it a secret?" She nodded, and turned her head towards me a little bit. "Can I ask why?"

"Well, my sister Kat is back at my house, and she'll kill me if she found out I was up here." she clarified. "I don't want to get in trouble..."

"I understand. Don't worry." I assured. "I won't tell a soul."

"Thank you..." She turned towards me, her eyes looking into mine. "Toad." She smiled at me, and I smiled back. Then I noticed the thing that she was trying to hide from me. I saw a pink tint on her face.

"Are you... blushing?" I asked, very close to blushing myself. Ana said nothing, but moved just a little bit closer to me, eyes locked onto mine. I let my emotions do their stuff, and as I felt my cheeks getting warmer due to me blushing, I saw her smile become warmer. She moved even closer to me and held out a hand. I looked at her, and she looked at me. It was like we were in our own little world.

I took her hand, and almost instantly, warmth flew through me. It felt like the cold of the mountain was fading away with her warmth replacing it. She moved even closer, inches away from me now. Her other hand reached up to my cheek and touched it.

"Toad... I'm pretty afraid to tell you this, but you're... you're so..." Ana blushed more, trying to get her thoughts out. I waited patiently for her to compose herself enough. Finally, she finished. "You're so cute." She instantly moved away about three feet, turned away, and blushed like never before. I smiled and moved closer, lessening the distance. "Sorry... Am I going too fast?" she asked me shyly.

"Of course you're not!" I smiled and moved closer to her. "I think the same thing about you." I said those words with a confidence that I didn't even know I had. Ana instantly moved a bit closer at those words.

"You... you do?" She had an expression that could be only described with hope and excitement. It was like she was pleading to me in her mind to say yes.

"Of course." I smiled, but I barely had time to do even that, because the next thing I knew, Ana was on top of me, holding me, hugging me.

"Thank you, Toad!" She giggled, a laugh that could only be described as carefree, and held me closer. "Thank you so much!"

"Hey..." I giggled. "I'm just helping out." She giggled more, and held me even closer, smiling.

"Toad... I know we've only met for a little while, but... I can already tell we'll be close friends."

"Me too, Ana." I smiled, and held her in my arms, her warmth flowing through me, giving me life, giving me strength. "Me too." This was all I wanted. Me and Ana, holding one another. Outside, behind us, the mountain roared and covered the surroundings with snow, but I was safe. She kept me safe. No one had ever shown that kindness.

And somewhere, deep in our hearts, there was another emotion, slowly making its way to the surface...

To be continued...


End file.
